I’m going to the arctic! 5 of my colleagues and I are going to be
trekking across Eastern Greenland, pulling 45kg sledges, camping on the ice and enduring temperatures waaaaay below zero.

Every night we’ll put up a fence around our camp to keep us safe from Polar Bears (!) and then we’ll get to building our own 'latrine', made out of blocks of snow... There’s not exactly going to be bathing facilities… so it’ll be a week without showers. 

The training has been intense. I haven’t been out on a Saturday night in months because we’re hauling tyres along the beach every Sunday at 7.30am. Our cardio sessions have nearly made me vomit and I am frequently hobbling around with DOMS.

Have I lost my mind?

No, promise. We’re taking on this crazy challenge to raise money, via
the St. James’s Place Charitable Foundation, for the incredible charity that is The Polar Academy.

The Polar Academy was founded by Craig Mathieson, whose mission is to change the lives of  kids who are invisible in our education system, with minimal self-confidence and self-esteem, and who often have histories of bullying, abuse, or otherwise difficult childhoods.

He transforms them into leaders and role-models and, with no exaggeration, changes their lives.

The training is brutal, as we have all found out. These teenagers are put through gruelling training that seems impossible. That they'll feel unlikely to get through. And yet, they do.

It all culminates in their own Arctic Trek. But it's not really about the Arctic. It's about the fundamental changes to their self-belief, their confidence and the fact that the journey - from early training days right through to the end of their trek - wholly changes the course of their lives.

As for our journey, well, we’ve been training for almost a year now and you can keep up with some of that here, or on instagram at @jenniferkay.apfs, or if you're an Edinburgh resident, if you spot some crazy people hauling tyres around the city - that'll be us!

The work that the Polar Academy does is really incredible. I really appreciate any support you can give. 

Thank you!